Made during WWII by the British Ministry of Information, this Merchant Marine film was directed by J.B. Holmes, and compares to other films of the era including Men of the Light Ship. It shows the sinking of a British merchant ship by Nazi torpedo and the aftermath. It contains very realistic footage of a ship sinking, the evacuation of the crew, and rescue operations by coast guardsmen. This is followed by a lengthy segment about the defensive training of merchant marine members, including training to use large caliber artillery pieces and other anti-submarine weapons.
The players in this film are apparently actual British officers and merchant seamen. The narrator being one of the crew represented. At mark 1:00 is the seamen crew conversing between one another then suddenly a torpedo attack occurred at mark 2:30. They tried helping each other aboard the ship and off the sea they went as seen at mark 4:10. Radio stations were called and hence, a life guard boat was sent. At mark 5:26, they all made their way back to the shore in a boat where the wounded seamen crews are been taken care of as seen at mark 5:40. At mark 6:15, is the seamen’s mission. Each member talked on the attack. At mark 7:15, they left to visit the hospitalized crew members. At mark 8:00 merchant marine members receive new defense training, including how to load a torpedo and guns. At mark 10:25, they put into practice what they have been taught. At mark 10:35, he received his license to shoot in the McAllister lines. At mark 11:15, there is a ship named Odysseus here.
At mark 12:05, another meeting is seen between the Admiral who is to be the commodore of the convoy and the crew men. He asked about the captain of the ship and their plans. Around 5 o’clock, we have the convoy on their way as seen at mark 12:30. This convoy involves about 50 ships. Here they are amidst fog on the water. Nobody like shore so they try maneuver their navigation through the fog. At mark 14:00, they are seen communicating their navigation direction to one another. At mark 14:28, they shared some tea between each other and some talk about their journey. The admirals and commodore are seen at mark 15:30 navigating on their maps. Also at mark 16:00, the crew men are also seen planning on their journey. They are bothered about hitting a mine field because of the blur vision they have due to the fogs around. At mark 18:30, they see lights and they changed course to the direction. They got through that already and here at mark 19:34, they have a new day, bright new morning, a clear sky. Everybody settles down nicely and comfortably except young Nipper as seen at mark 19:30.
They aren’t ready for assault yet; hence, they all had some fun and made themselves comfortable. At mark 21:45, an alarm was rung for emergency attacks placing gun men in sight due to a sighted enemy submarine. They fired several shots from their gun and alas they hit their target. A U-boat was present in the sea and through coordinated firing they got their target. This is seen at mark 23:00. They commended each other on the success of their mission. At mark 23:30, is a log book on their mission written by one of the crew.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
